Does Byron Sharp's Philosophy Work for Innovation?

Does Byron Sharp's Philosophy Work for Innovation?

In his book, How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don’t Know, Byron Sharp outlines a theory about brand marketing and offers marketers several rules to follow to achieve brand growth. Specifically, Sharp asserts that it is penetration growth and not loyalty that is critical to brand success.

While Sharp’s advice focuses on how to grow existing brands, marketers should be asking if his principles apply to new product development as well. In other words, can marketers use Sharp’s principles to help them launch successful innovations?

So, does Byron Sharp’s philosophy work for innovation?

This white paper concludes:

Trial is important but you must also consider the potential for an innovation to grow your brand through increased volume (More Often) and increased penetration (More People).

Genuine differentiation is proven to be a key driver of innovation success that innovators should not ignore when evaluating new products – but maintaining differentiation over time is tough.

Innovations must be easy to buy – ensure that they are by benchmarking against existing products that are salient to consumers today.

Innovations should be evaluated among the broadest possible audience to measure mass appeal.